Sean Strickland’s Parents, His Troubled Childhood, & Relationship With Father & Mother

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has carved an image of himself as an unapologetic, brash, and unadulterated fighter. He doesn’t shy away from speaking his mind. ‘Tarzan’ has risen through the UFC ranks through sheer determination and willpower. However, behind his controversial persona is a long trail of difficult childhood days.

While some may not know, the American fighter has thrown jabs and responded well to whatever punch life pulled on him while growing up. He is certainly going to do the same this weekend when he fights Dricus du Plessis in a title rematch at UFC 312. But before that, let us take a look at what Strickland has confessed about his difficult upbringing, which he has talked about as the reason for his getting into fighting.

Who were Sean Strickland’s parents?

Well, there’s not enough information on Sean Strickland’s parents because it’s not available in the public domain, and also because the former champ has never mentioned them in any of his interviews or public appearances. However, what we do know is that his mother is still safe and sound and in a healthy state, but that’s not the case for his father.

In 2017, Sean Strickland’s father passed away due to cancer, which left many people wondering what his father looked like. But that doubt was all gone when a picture of a young Strickland, in his early 20s, surfaced on social media, along with his father, which gave everyone an idea about how his father looked. However, things weren’t mellow in his household due to some of the issues with Strickland’s father. Here’s what we know.

What did Sean Strickland’s father do?

The names and details of Sean Strickland’s parents are not known to the public, as we’ve mentioned already. The middleweight contender once shed light on his relationship with his abusive father when he sat down with Brendan Schaub. “My father, abusive, alcoholic, drunk, you know. Got on pills later on. Everything about him, I hated. Yes, everything about him. I hated my dad,” he admitted candidly.

Following this, the Xtreme Couture gym representative narrated an incident when he asked his father to end his misery. He was just 17, and his father was lying on the bed with a .45 gun. “I f—ing walked up. He was talking about and I was like, ‘Dad, you should f— ing do it. You know, you should do it,” he added.

“I was like your wife left you. You’re unemployed. You’re a f—ing d–g addict. Your life sucks. Like, you should f—ing do. I took a gun and put his hand on it. He said, ‘Do it’. Didn’t f—ing do it,” Strickland continued. Then again, all these problems didn’t help the former UFC champion grow up in a very comfortable way. Let’s take a look at that front.

Strickland’s tough childhood problems

The 33-year-old had a disturbed upbringing as he grew up in an abusive home. He never found peace within the four walls of a house in Corona, where he had to encounter an alcoholic father every day. Strickland had to endure both mental and physical abuse, and he was not the only one on the receiving end of the beating. The poisonous upbringing made Strickland an angry adolescent, and he switched schools after school as he kept on getting into trouble.

“When you grow up the way I grew up… You’re so angry. You’re so filled with hate that you have to hate something,” Sean Strickland admitted once ahead of UFC Vegas 12. Soon he found solace when he discovered MMA at the age of 14, and he turned professional at 17. But before that, he had developed a sour relationship with his father, as mentioned already. But Strickland’s parents’ relationship was no less toxic than the one he had with his father.

What kind of relationship did Strickland’s parents have with each other?

The American MMA fighter’s chaotic household affected him profoundly. And in a conversation with Ariel Helwani, he looked back at the trauma his father had caused. Moreover, his mother also found herself on the receiving end of constant death threats, which ultimately altered the way Strickland’s mind worked.

Remembering one such incident that detailed his parents’ toxic relationship, he recalled crawling under their bed one night. Strickland said, “He f—ing gets on top of my mom… He gets on top of my mom and is like strangling her. Saying, ‘Tonight’s the night you’re gonna f—ing die.”

Strickland, probably in the third grade, grabbed the first thing visible to him. “The only thing I see is a guitar, so I go and I grab the guitar, and I f—ing just smack him in the head as hard as I can. I grabbed the phone. I ran out and called the cops. My mom, her d—ass, bailed him out of jail the next day,” he expressed in frustration.

Hence, a younger Sean Strickland never saw a peaceful day while growing up. The turmoil during his childhood might have added to his current persona. Despite this tumultuous phase in his early life, Strickland has emerged as a distinct fighter, doing what he does best: fighting, be it inside a steel cage or in life.

Now, Strickland’s MMA career is in full swing and he just recently marked his name in UFC’s history by becoming a champion. But in the wake of losing his title, he would look to get it back when he butts heads against Dricus du Plessis for the second time this weekend at UFC 312. Meanwhile, let us know what you think of these troubling experiences of the former champion.